Happy Family
by Psycho Babble
Summary: Reno and Cloud are in for a very much unexpected surprise. Slash, MPreg
1. Chapter 1

Title: A moment in time

Author: Psycho D-Girl/Psycho Babble/Pho

Archived: ,

Rating: R

Pairings: Cloud/Reno

Feedback: reviews are good

Story notes: Slash, MPreg

Status: WIP

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF characters, they are the property of squareenix.

_"Clean up your own fucking mess! I'm tired of picking up after you!" Reno Sinclair glared across the kitchen at his boyfriend Cloud Strife. Cloud just looked at him for a moment and then glanced at the cup on the table that was the cause of Reno's outburst._

_"What's gotten into you lately? It's just a cup, I'll wash it when we get back. We're already late for work," Cloud said, walking out of the kitchen and the house where they lived. He didn't see Reno's eyes darkening or hear the words that the redhead muttered under his breath._

_"Don't need to have a damn physical," Reno snapped; before he to slammed out of the house._

_(line breaker)_

_Reno sat at the kitchen table, hands wrapped around a lukewarm cup of coffee; a burning cigarette dangled from his lips. Cloud came in and stopped when he saw Reno._

_"Feeling better?" He asked._

_"I'm pregnant," Reno said. Cloud stared at him._

_"Yeah, very funny, Reno," he said._

_"I'm not kidding," Reno finally looked up at him._

_"Had the yearly physical today. They took blood and urine tests. I had them check three damn times...there is no mistake," he took a long drag from his cigarette. Cloud collapsed into the chair opposite Reno._

_"How is this possible?" He asked. Reno shrugged, took a slug of coffee before answering._

_"The doctor has worked for Shinra for years now; he said it was possible that the mako you have running through your system did this," Reno looked at Cloud and Cloud looked at Reno; both were silent for a long time._

_"What do you want to do?" Cloud asked._

_"Fuck, I don't know," Reno said._

_"The doctor gave me the name of a specialist that also works for Shinra...not sure if we should trust him or not..."_

_"They seem pretty accepting of us, that we're together I mean," Cloud said quietly._

_"Yeah...but this is a different. How many guys you know that got knocked up by their boyfriends?" Reno asked; smiling crookedly. Despite the situation they found themselves in; Cloud snorted a laugh at that._

_"I don't know about you; but I don't know anything about pregnancies, or delivering babies," he said. Reno stubbed out his cigarette and let out a sigh._

_"Don't remind me...what the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" He asked._

_"You want to keep it?" Cloud asked, his tone carefully neutral._

_"What kind of question is that?! Of course I want to keep it," Reno sighed_

_"Look I know how weird this is...hell I'm the one who's pregnant; but this...however it happened, it's happened, if you don't want that then I guess I'll find a place for me and the baby...when it comes,"_

_"No...I mean...yeah, I want this baby to. We can do this...it's just....unexpected, y'know?" Cloud looked Reno in the eye._

_"No kidding," Reno snorted._

_(line breaker)_

_Reno held tightly to Cloud's hand as the two sat in the doctors office. Both of them nervous as hell. The doctor came in and closed the door behind him; he held a file in one hand. He took a moment to settle himself behind his desk._

_"How are we feeling, Mr. Sinclair?" He asked. Reno glanced at Cloud, before looking to the doctor._

_" 'We're' doing ok. What's wrong with the baby?" He was worried, after having received a call the day before from the doctors receptionist asking them both to come in. He placed one hand on his growing belly; he was already seven months gone and he felt huge. The doctor flipped open the file and laid it on the desk in front of him._

_"Hmm?" He turned some of the files pages._

_"She's growing a little bit to fast,"_

_"That's all?" Cloud asked, unable to hide his relief. The doctor put his elbows on the desk, and steepled his fingers in front of his face._

_"Not quite," the doctor paused for a moment before continuing._

_"Physically her body is growing to fast; this could cause problems later on. Her lungs are not keeping up with this growth, which will put strain on her heart even before she's born,"_

_"Is there anything you can do?" Cloud was worried now and he knew Reno was to._

_"We could wait for nature to take it's course; hope that the rest of her catches up. I believe that's the best course of action, at this stage if we try any kind of operation while Mr. Sinclair is still pregnant it might bring on early labor and then we'll have to do a caesaren once that happens and it will most likely be to early and she won't survive. Let things proceed as they are, if necessary once she's born she may have to stay in an incubator for a while," The doctor shook his head._

_"I'm sorry I don't have better news. From this point on I want you to come in for weekly checkups "_

_"Thank you," Cloud stood up and helped Reno up and the two headed for the door. Cloud turned back._

_"You said it was a girl?"_

_"That's right," the doctor nodded. Reno and Cloud left the office together. In the elevator on the way down Cloud grinned at Reno._

_"We're going to have a daughter," he said quietly; happily. Reno's brow was furrowed._

_"Didn't you hear what he said?! I should have known something like this would happen. We were to complacent. This isn't natural and now she's going to die!" Rano nearly shouted. Cloud pulled his lover into a tight hug._

_"No! She'll be alright, she'll be fine. Look who she has for parents. How can she not be?" He murmured into Reno's hair._

_"I don't want to loose our baby," Reno said._

_"I promise we're not going to," Cloud said, hoping like hell that fate would not prove him a liar._

_(Line breaker)_

_They had decided a few weeks before that only Cloud and the godparents would be at the hospital for the birth of Ki'ara; a name that they had finally chosen. While Reno had been taken away to have the caesaren; Cloud paced the waiting room. Elena; Ki'ara's future godmother had arrived minutes after Cloud had brought Reno in. Vincent Valentine had arrived had arrived only an hour ago. Cloud and Reno had both decided he would make a very good godfather to Ki'ara. Vincent stood silently in the corner, watching Cloud pace._

_"Sit down, you wearing a hole in the carpet isn't going to do anyone any good," he said quietly. Cloud glanced at him, before turning to walk back in the direction of the door, just as the doctor calm in. He smiled at Cloud._

_"The delivery went off without a problem. Mr. Sinclair is now resting in a private room," the doctor said. Cloud exhaled a huge sigh of relief._

_"What about the baby?" He asked._

_"She's in an incubator in the nursery ICU, being checked by a paedatrician, but i don't think there's much to worry about now. We had trouble getting her to breathe once she was born, but she should be okay now. Would you like to see her?" The doctor asked. Cloud nodded and he, Elena and Vincent followed the doctor to the nursery. At the door to the nursery the doctor turned to them._

_"It might be best for Mr. Strife to come in alone," he said. Elena nodded, put one hand on Cloud's arm._

_"We'll wait right here, Cloud," she said. The doctor pushed the door open and led Cloud into the room and over to a small crib where a baby was patiently watching a female nurse dress her in a yellow outfit. The nurse smiled at the doctor._

_"She's in good health, Doctor. Doctor Singh checked her over and aside from her being unable to breathe right at first, nothing's wrong. Would you like to hold her?" The last part directed at Cloud. His eyes widened and he seemed to shake and nod his head at once. The nurse gently lifted the infant from the crib and placed her into his arms. Cloud held her closely to his chest, feeling her tiny wriggling body before she settled down and lay still, gazing up at him calmly._

_"You can bring her to see Mr. Sinclair if you wish. Unfortunetly he didn't get the chance when she was born due to the problems she was having. No doubt he's worried about her," the doctor said. Cloud walked carefully out of the room. True to her word Elena was still waiting outside with Vincent. Elena leaned over to look at the baby and smiled. The three all walked to where Reno's room was. Again Elena touched his arm._

_"Vincent and I will give you and Reno some time alone with her," she said, before the two left. Cloud pushed the door open with one hand._

_"Up to having two visitors?" He asked. Reno was laying back against the pillows, his face a little paler than usual. As soon as he saw Cloud and their daughter he sat up a little._

_"Is she alright?" He asked worriedly. Cloud smiled as he sat down on the edge of Reno's bed._

_"Reno, I'd like to introduce you to the most beautiful baby in the world. Ki'ara, this is your mother, Reno," he said. Reno slapped his arm._

_"Father! Let me hold her," he took her into his arms. She stared up at him, her mouth opening into a little 'oh'._

_"Hello, beautiful," he murmured quietly._

_"She has your hair and eyes," Cloud said quietly. Reno was smiling down at her. For her part she was looking from him to Cloud. Then she grabbed a handful of Reno's bright red hair and stuffed it in her mouth. Cloud laughed, as Reno pulled his hair out._

_"None of that," he said. She yawned hugely and her eyes drifted closed._

_(Line breaker)_

_Cloud was moving around the kitchen, making toast and coffee and trying not to be late for his job as a delivery boy. At least he worked for himself so it wasn't really a problem. Ki'ara was almost a month and a half old and currently she was screaming and crying and Reno was trying to make her stop. She'd been like that for over a day now as well as not eating or sleeping. Reno was taking her to the doctor later to have her checked up._

_"See you later, Reno, gotta go!" He called up the stairs and was out the door. Reno was still upstairs with the baby. He'd changed her nappy, tried to feed her, held her, rocked her. He was out of ideas and her crying was getting to him. He laid her gently in her crib._

_"Please stop," he said to her. She just seemed to scream louder, her face bright red. He sighed and went downstairs to get some coffee and a slice of toast. The doctor appointment wasn't for another hour. He ate his toast and drank the coffee slowly as his daughter continued to scream. After a while he slammed the coffee cup down on the countertop and stomped up the stairs. He stood in the doorway of the nursery for a moment, before going over to the crib and staring down at Ki'ara. He clenched the railings of the crib with his hands._

_"FOR FUCK SAKE JUST SHUT UP!" He yelled. Suddenly the house was filled with nothing but silence, as she stared up at him in surprise, her mouth frozen open mid scream. Then she started screaming again, even louder this time, if that was possible. He released the railings and lifted her gently out of the crib._

_"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," He murmured gently, as he held her screaming, wriggling form against his shoulder._

_"Come on, we have to go see your doctor,"_

_They arrived at the doctors office less than half an hour later, just in time for their appointment. The receptionist had him fill out a form and take a seat while he waited. Ki'ara still screaming loudly. After just a few minutes Reno was called into the doctors office._

_"Sorry about the noise," Reno said a little loudly. The doctor smiled pleasantly at him._

_"In my line of work I'm used to it," he said. He took Ki'ara from him and did doctor things to her, checked her breathing and heartrate. Then he took some blood and other tests and sent them to the laboratory. Reno was glad he worked as a Turk and the weight of the name Shinra._

_"Should be back within the hour hopefully, you can wait if you want to," the doctor said, making notes in a file._

_"Yeah, we'll wait," Reno lifted Ki'ara from the bed the doctor had put her on and took a seat again in the waiting room. A while later the receptionist approached him._

_"The doctor wants you to contact Mr. Strife and have him meet you at the hospital," she said. Reno glanced up sharply._

_"The hospital? Is it really that bad?" He asked. The receptionist shrugged and shook her head._

_"I'm sorry, I don't know. I was just told to tell you about Mr. Strife. They're waiting for you to get there, they have everything set up," she went back to her desk. He pulled out his phone out of his pocket as he left the waiiting room and left a message for Cloud to meet them._

_"Cloud!" Reno called as soon as the blonde walked through the door._

_"What's going on?" Cloud asked instantly. Reno shook his head, holding their daughter carefully in his arms, she still screamed and now that Reno looked at her properly he could see that there were darkened circles under her eyes and her tiny fists clenched and waving. The doctor came in and quietly closed the door behind him._

_"Please lay on the bed Mr. Strife, and Mr. Sinclair take a seat near him with Ki'ara," he said. Cloud stayed where he was._

_"But She's the one that's not well...right?" He asked. The doctor looked from Cloud to Reno._

_"No one told you?" He asked._

_"Told us what?" Reno asked. The doctor opened the chart._

_"Your daughters doctor called me, the test results indicate a lack of mako materia in her system. It causes severe joint pain and headaches," he said. Cloud nodded, he knew from experience what that was like. Cloud frowned, looking at the tiny screaming bundle in Reno's arms._

_"Can't you just give her some materia?" He asked. The doctor shook his head._

_"That won't work. Her body is unable to process a pure form of materia. Luckily she is the same blood type as you, Mr. Strife, so a direct blood to blood transfusion should work. So let's get that started now," he said. Cloud climbed up on the bed and laid down, looking at Reno and Ki'ara as they sat down in the chair next to the bed. The doctor set up the equipment, putting a needle into Clouds arm first and then one into Ki'ara's._

_"We'll try for half a pint first, then after an hour another half," he said. Cloud nodded silently as the blood started to flow from him to Ki'ara. She still screamed loudly. The doctor's beeper beeped loudly and he looked at it._

_"I'll be back shortly," he said and left them alone. Reno looked down at Ki'ara in his arms._

_"I'm so sorry," he whispered to her._

_"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked him. Reno glanced up at his lover._

_"I...yelled at her, told her to shut up, she was making so much noise and I couldn't take it anymore," he mumbled an ashamed look on his face. Cloud lifted one hand and cupped Reno's face._

_"It's okay, you didn't mean it, right?" He asked._

_"At the time I did, but I didn't know what was wrong with her, I just thought she was making noise cos she's a baby," Reno said._

_"Exactly, how were you...we to know this?" Cloud asked._

_"I guess you're right," The redhead said. Just then the doctor came back._

_"Sorry about that," he checked the equipment and turned it off._

_"Okay, that should be enough, let's see if it helps," he said._

_"Now there's something else," the doctor opened the file again._

_"We're going to have to do this every two weeks. Until she's at least six months old, after that we'll review it, see how things progress,"_

_"How long will she need blood transfusions for?" Reno asked._

_"At least until she's in her pre-teens; after that her body may develop it's own ability to process materia. If it doesn't any form of materia could give her Mako poisoning. But if she never does then she will most likely need these transfusions the rest of her life," the doctor replied._

_"Can you give us a while alone?" Cloud asked. The doctor nodded._

_"I'll be back in about an hour to continue the transfusion," he said._

_"Dammit," Cloud snapped loudly, as soon as the doctor had left. He sat up on the bed._

_"This is all my fault. What the hell were we thinking?!" He asked._

_"This isn't you're fault. Like you said to me earlier, how were we to know?" Reno asked him._

_"I should have known something like this could happen, I mean look at me! This damn materia I have to take and now Ki'ara's the one suffering for it!" Cloud was pissed off at himself mostly for this. Reno glanced down at the screaming infant he held in his arms._

_"We can't change it, no matter how we want to. Would you really rather that we didn't have her?" He asked. Cloud huffed out a noisy breath of air and his shoulders slumped._

_"No, but I don't want to see her in pain either," he said. As if to prove his last statement wrong Ki'ara's wailing suddenly ceased, replaced by tiny gasps for breath as she started to calm down. The angry flailing for her arms and legs stopped and she wriggled in Reno's arms. One hand reached out and grasped her tiny fingers around one Cloud's bigger ones. He moved his other hand to trace a finger gently against her cheek tenderly as she fell asleep._

_"I don't know, but it seems to me that she doesn't mind all that much," Reno told him, leaning in to kiss Cloud lovingly._

_"She'll be alright...we'll be alright, okay?" The redhead stated. Cloud grinned in that way that melted Reno's heart as he nodded._

_"Yeah, we'll make it," he said._


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Happy Family

Author: Psycho D-Girl/Psycho Babble/Pho

Archived: ,

Rating: R

Pairings: Cloud/Reno

Feedback: reviews are good

Story notes: Slash, Ki'ara is a almost a year old in this chapter.

Status: WIP

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF characters, they are the property of squareenix.

Cloud walked into the kitchen to find Reno already starting dinner. He came up behind the redhead and wrapped both arms around his lovers waist, leaning in to kiss him.

"Have fun at work?" He asked.

"Tseng had me in the office most of the day doing paperwork, which is boring I might add. So no, not really," Reno grinned at Cloud as he turned away from the bubbling pot of pasta sauce.

"How about you?"

"Deliveries all over Midgar. Sometimes I think that people order things just so they get something delivered to their doors. Good to be home," Cloud crouched down by the kitchen table.

"How's my favorite daughter?" He asked. Ki'ara was crawling around under the table with a silver saucepan on her head and a wooden sppon clutched in one hand. She crawled towards him with a happy squeal and banged her saucepan covered head against his knee, both arms going around his leg as she lifted herself up on both feet. Cloud lifted the saucepan off and kissed her forehead, before lifting her up.

"And how was your day, honey?" He asked seriously. She waved the wooden spoon around, nearly hitting him in the face with it and babbled a long stream of gibberish at him. He smiled, ruffling her bright red hair.

"That good, huh?"

"The doctor rang and left a message, he has to reschedule the transfusion appointment for tomorrow instead of the day after that," Reno said as he put some pasta in a pot of boiling water on the stove. Cloud made a face. Reno snorted a loud laugh as he looked at the both of them.

"What?" Cloud asked. Reno pointed at Cloud and Ki'ara.

"Matching looks. I don't think she likes it anymore than you do," he replied. Ki'ara shook the wooden spoon in Reno's direction and spouted some more gibberish.

"Yeah, shut up, mama," Cloud said. Reno rolled his eyes good naturedly. Cloud put her in the high chair next to the table and strapped her in, while Reno filled the toddler cup with milk and put it in front of her.

"Dinner's almost ready, can you set the table?" He asked.

"Best silverware?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, right, if we had any," Reno muttered as he drained the water off the pasta and put the pasta into a large bowl with the sauce on top, then set the bowl on the table and sat down. Cloud sat opposite him. Reno had set aside a small bowl of pasta and sauce to cool off a bit for Ki'ara, before spooning some onto plates for himself and Cloud and they started eating.

"Tseng has a mission for me and Rude tomorrow evening so I don't know what time I'll be back tomorrow night. The appointments at three," Reno set the bowl of food on the high chairs table and gave Ki'ara a plastic spoon; not that she'd use it, she preferred her hands for eating and making big messes.

"No problem, me and my date will have fun at the hospital, won't we, sweetie?" Cloud asked Ki'ara. She was trying to stuff a piece of pasta up her nose. Reno reached out and took it off her.

"Fuck it," he muttered.

"None of that, eat your food," he told her. She grinned and crammed a fistful of food in her mouth.

"You get to teach her table manners," Cloud said.

"I love you to," Reno said. They continued eating in companionable silence for a while.

"Where are you going on that mission?" Cloud asked.

"You know I can't tell you that. Tseng would have my ass," Reno said.

"If I didn't know better I'd think he doesn't trust me," Cloud said.

"Yeah, but to be fair, Tseng doesn't really trust anyone, yo," Reno stated. Cloud shrugged, still eating.

"This is good," he said. There was a happy yell and Cloud's head turned to see that Ki'ara had somehow managed to unbuckle the straps in her chair and was now standing up in it, with another yell she launched herself off it and towards the floor. Cloud leaped to his feet and caught her as she fell. He lifted her up to eye level.

"I'm going to have to start chaining you in," he said. She blew a raspberry at him and laughed. He sat down with her in his lap.

"Fuck it, how are we meant to stop her from doing things like that. When I brought her home I went to put away my weapons and when I got back she'd got out of the stroller and was after climbing on the sofa," Reno said. Ki'ara laughed again and wriggled to be put down. Cloud set her on the floor and she crawled under the table.

"Foo, foooo..." she said from under the table. Reno looked at Cloud and both of them bent to look under the table at her. Reno picked her up again, a big grin on his face.

"Father...dada," he said clearly and slowly.

"Foooooooooo," she said again.

"Father," he repeated. Her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Fooo," she said, then tried again.

"Fooooo...fuuu," she looked at him. He nodded encouragingly.

"Father," he repeated exaggeratedly, making sure she saw how he moved his mouth when he said the word.

"Fuuu...fuckit!" She said triumphantly.

"Fuckit, fuckit, fuckit!" She said happy at finally getting the words right. Reno's grin dropped away. Cloud sighed and covered his face with his hands.

"Her first word is a swear word..." He muttered. She kept repeating the phrase over and over and cackled manically at the look on Reno's face. Cloud looked at his boyfriend.

"I think you need to stop swearing when she's around you," he said. Reno sighed and looked down at Ki'ara who was grinning up at him.

"Thanks, get us both into trouble," he said, a slight note of sarcasm in his tone. She giggled and patted his face with her hand. There was a knock at the door, Cloud stood up.

"I'll get it as you two seem to be busy," he said. He walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway, his daughters voice saying 'fuckit' followed him, opening the door he was surprised to see Vincent Valentine.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I'm your daughters godfather, I thought I might try to live up to that role. May I come in?" He asked. Cloud stepped back and gestured him inside.

"Of course," he led the way into the kitchen were Reno was still trying to eat dinner, while Ki'ara kept trying to grab his fork and laughing everytime she succeeded. She looked up curiously at the stranger entering with her father. The last time she had seen him was just after she was born, so she didn't know him. Nevertheless she waved at him with one hand. Cloud pointed to a free chair and Vincent sat down.

"Would you like something to eat?" Reno asked. Vincent shook his head.

"At least she's stopped saying that word," Cloud muttered, as he to took a seat.

"She's speaking already?" Vincent asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, her first word," Cloud told him, starting to eat again.

"Bright kid; what was it? 'Dada'?" Vincent asked. Cloud stopped with the fork halfway to his mouth, considering whether he should say.

"Fuckit!" Ki'ara answered for him. Vincent raised one eyebrow.

"How...charming," he said drily. He looked at Reno for a long moment.

"Hey, it's not my fault, yo!" The redhead declared.

"Don't lie, Reno, you've already thought her how to swear, she doesn't need to learn how to lie yet," Cloud said.

"Fuck off," Reno told him.

"Fuck off," Ki'ara repeated cheerfully.

"Reno..." Cloud sighed. Reno looked down at the toddler in his lap.

"Dammit, would you stop?" He asked.

"Dammit," she said back at him. Reno gently put one finger over her lips.

"Stop," he said.

"Fuckit!" She said, her voice a little muffled by his fingers. Reno sighed loudly, shaking his head.

"At least the training of the next generation of Sinclair's is going well," Vincent said, somewhat sarcasitically.

"Sinclair-Strife," Cloud said quietly. Vincent glanced at him, a serious look on his face.

"Not with a mouth like that," He said.

"Da-" Ki'ara said, before Reno managed to put a hand over her mouth to stop her from swearing again. She slapped at his hand.

"Stop," he said again removing his hand.

"Da," she repeated. Reno looked down at her, inwardly cursing himself at teaching her some words she shouldn't know, but stopped when he saw her brow furrowed in concentration.

"Dadaaa!" She said with a huge grin on her face. Cloud smiled back at her.

"That's right," he put a hand on his chest.

"Dada," he said.

"Dada!" she repeated. Then grabbed at Reno's red hair tail. Her brow furrowed again, he nodded down at her also smiling, waiting for her to say it. She looked at Cloud and giggled a little bit. She patted Reno's cheek with her hand.

"Mama!" She crowed. Cloud couldn't help but laugh and she joined him when she saw the look on Reno's face. Even Vincent managed to crack a smile.

"No, dada," Reno said. She babbled incoherently at him, pointed with one finger at Cloud.

"Dada," she said, then patted Reno's chest.

"Mama," she said again. Reno glared halfheartedly at Cloud.

"Thanks a lot, Cloud," he muttered. Cloud smiled across the table at his boyfriend.

"You deserved that for teaching her how to swear...mama," he said. Ki'ara giggled again put her arms around his neck and hugged Reno.

"Dada," she said, then pulled away and patted him on the top of his head.

"I think you know exactly what you're saying...at least partly, don't you?" He asked. She blinked at him and then put a hand on her own chest as if to say 'who me?'.

"Smart kid," Vincent murmured.


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Happy Family

Author: Psycho D-Girl/Psycho Babble/Pho

Archived: ,

Rating: R

Pairings: Cloud/Reno

Feedback: reviews are good

Story notes: Slash, Ki'ara is just a little over two years of age in this chapter.

Status: WIP

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF characters, they are the property of squareenix.

Cloud set the bowl of plain brown flakes down on the table in front of his daughter Ki'ara. She stared balefully at the bowl, then at Cloud.

"Choco puffs, daddy!" She said loudly.

"No," Cloud said calmly, as he sat down with a cup of coffee and some toast. She banged her spoon on the table.

"CHOCO PUFFS!" She yelled.

"No, eat that or you get nothing," he said.

"Daddy give me choco puffs," she said sulkily. Cloud snorted into his coffee cup, oh he'd heard the story of that one when Reno had decided to feed her choco puffs, orange soda and doughnuts for breakfast a few weeks ago. One would think that the red headed Turk had learned his lesson after that, but no, Reno had then taken her for lunch at a restaurant where he'd let her order three sugar laden desserts for her meal. Any normal; or at the very least any person with half a brain would have stopped at that; but Reno had made her chocolate chip pancakes, with maple syrup and ice cream for dinner, accompanied by a tall glass of cola. Reno had made Cloud promise to never feed her sugar again until it didn't make her so hyper that she practically bounced off the walls.

"I mean it," he told her, still speaking calmly. She closed her mouth and then pouted. After a few minutes with Cloud not budging on the matter, she finally dug her spoon into the cereal and started to eat slowly.

"Hate you," she mumbled.

"That's okay, I still love you," he said cheerfully. He glanced at his watch, put his cup in the sink, ruffled Ki'ara's hair, kissed her cheek and headed for the front door.

"Reno, I'm leaving now. Sasha said she'd be here before you have to go to work," he called up the stairs.

"See ya later, sweet cheeks," Reno's voice floated down the stairs. Cloud came back into the kitchen, Ki'ara was still eating her cereal.

"See you tonight, babe," he said. She waved with one hand.

"Bye bye, sweet cheeks," she said. Cloud rolled his eyes, from upstairs he could hear Reno's laughter. Cloud left and a few minutes later Reno ran down the stairs; poured himself a cup of coffee and slouched against the countertop.

"Finished breakfast yet?" He asked his daughter. She was pushing a few brown flakes around in the small amout of milk in the bottom of the bowl. She looked up at him, her mouth turning down.

"Daddy no' give me choco puffs," she informed him. Reno sighed in relief.

"Thank god for that," he muttered under his breath.

"Daddy?" She said.

"Yeah?" He set his cup on the counter.

"Get kitty?" She asked. Great, that was her new thing, she wanted a cat and kept asking for one.

"No, we talked about this, remember, honey?" He said.

"Said you'd think about it, not 'no'," she said. Reno rubbed his eyes with the fingers of one hand.

"Your daddy and I talked about it, maybe when you're older," he told her. He was a litte surprised when she nodded happily.

" 'K!"' She said.

"Come on, Sasha, where are you?" He muttered, just as the house phone rang. He picked it up, talked for a few moments and then hung up.

"Fuck it!" He snapped.

"Ohhhhh, daddy said bad word!" Ki'ara said. Usually Reno was very careful with the way he spoke around his daughter.

"Yeah, don't tell Cloud, okay?" He smiled at her. She nodded grinning.

"Can I get kitty?" She asked again.

"Blackmail won't work," he said.

"Black letters? I dunno how I makes those work, daddy," she said confusedly. Reno chuckled; there was a knock at the door and he picked her up.

"Nevermind. Guess what?" He asked her as he headed for the door.

"Wha?" She said obligingly.

"You're coming to work with me today," he told her. She cheered happily, but then stopped.

"Daddy?" She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" He asked, grabbing her coat from the coatrack. She pointed at her feet and Reno looked down to see that she had a yellow sneaker on one foot and a blue lace up boot on the other.

"Daddy puts wrong shoes on," she told him. Reno opened the door.

"We'll be right with you, gotta get a change of footwear. Blue boots don't match the green dungarees, yo," he told his partner.

"Hi hi, Uncle Rude," she waved at the tall black man, who gave her one of his rare smiles in return.

"We?" Rude asked, as he came into the hallway and watched the redhead run up the stairs with his daughter.

"Yeah, she's coming with me today!" He called down to his partner.

"Does Tseng know this?" Rude asked.

"Nope! He's in for a surprise, yo!" Reno came galloping down the stairs, his daughter now sporting two matching shoes on her feet, he also had a backpack that he had thrown some toys and books in to keep her entertained. He waved Rude out ahead of him and quickly followed, slamming the door behind him. Rude climbed in the driver seat of his car and waited for Reno to strap Ki'ara into the toddler seat that the black man had installed in the back seat of his car.

"Daddy! I nots a baby!" Ki'ara called out.

"No, I know you're not. This is in case we get in an accident," Reno said, as he sat in the passenger seat of the car.

"Baby seat," Ki'ara said. Rude started his car and started driving, he looked at the child in the rearview mirror.

"No. it's a special seat I got just for you, the woman in the shop told me that it was only for big girls," he told the girl.

"Really, Uncle Rude?" She asked.

"Absolutely, I made sure of it," he paused briefly then asked.

"Are you a big girl?"

"Yes!" She said loudly. Rude glanced sideways at Reno.

"Just making sure, if you weren't then you wouldn't be allowed to use it," he said.

"I'ma big girl. Daddy tell him!" She said, taking Rude completely seriously. Reno snorted a laugh that he disguised as a cough.

"Oh, she's defienetly a big girl, she can even dress herself," He told his partner.

"How do you do that and she won't listen to me?" He asked Rude, who glanced at him and shrugged.

"By watching you mess up," he said. They arrived a few minutes later and Reno followed Rude carrying his daughter.

"Daddy, I wanna walk," she wriggled in his arms until he set her down. On the way up in the elevator, Reno crouched down to her.

"Okay, I want you to do some things for me today, okay?" He said.

"A mission like you goes on?" She asked.

"Yep, exactly like it. I need you to stay under my desk, not make much noise. Unless I tell you that you can, understand?" He asked. She made a face.

"But that's borin'," she said. He winked at her and leaned in close, lowering his voice.

"It's a stealth mission. If anyone hears you then they might catch you, no one must catch you, alright?" He asked.

"Okay," she said. The elevator doors opened and Rude walked out, Reno stuck his head checking for any sign of Tseng.

"Coast is clear, let's go," he told his daughter, keeping up the charade of her 'mission'. She followed behind him as he hurried to the Turk offices.

"Hello, sweetie," Elena said when they walked in. Ki'ara waved to her godmother.

"Hi, Laney," she said. Elena looked at Reno.

"Tseng is going to kill you,"

"Quick, under the desk," Reno pushed her gently towards it and she crawled underneath it. Tseng came out of his office on his way to get some coffee he didnt even look over at Reno.

"You're late," he said.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Reno said, pulling his chair into his desk.

"Ow! Daddy, you kicked me!" Ki'ara exclaimed, rubbing her shin. Tseng turned slowly a half full cup of coffee in one hand.

"What was that?" He asked his tone deathly calm.

"Uhhh...nothing?" Reno said unconvincingly. Tseng finished filling his cup, then set the pot down.

"Reno, you know what goes on here, this is not a creche," he said.

"The babysitter didn't show up, yo. What was I supposed to do?" He asked.

"Find another one," Tseng suggested.

"I didn't have time. She won't be any trouble," Reno said.

"She better not be," Tseng told him and went back into his office. Reno crouched to look under his desk.

"I told you not to make any noi...Ki'ara?" He sat up, then stood, looking around. The child was nowhere in sight.

"Son of a bitch!" He snapped.

"I'm surprised she stayed still this long," Rude said, sitting calmly at his desk. He was going to enjoy watching Reno panic.

(line breaker)

Meanwhile Ki'ara had made her way to the elevator and though she had to stand on tiptoe to reach the buttons she hit the top floor and the elevator started to move. She got out when the doors opened and walked down the corridor into an expensievely furbished office. She ran over and sat in the big comfortable office chair behind the desk and spun around a few times. At the sound of a low growl she peeked over the desk and her face lit up.

"Kitty!" She got down off the chair and walked over to the panther; Dark Nation. He growled at her again, but she just grinned and petted his head.

"Hello kitty, wanna play?" she wrapped both arms around his neck, hugging him and tried to pull herself up on his back, giggling when she slid off and landed on her butt. She quickly got back up and tried again, succeeding this time, she held onto his collar to keep from falling off again.

"Giddyup!" She yelled, tapping her heels against his sides. He growled again, low in his throat, threateningly. She giggled and tried to imitate him.

"Who are you?" A voice asked. She turned her head to see a blonde man had come in. She lifted one hand to wave and slipped off Black Nation. She hopped to her feet quickly.

"I'm Ki'ara. Who you?" She asked. A pale blonde brow raised slowly, so this was the child of Reno and Cloud, the bright red hair should have given that away.

"I'm Rufus Shinra," he replied; not used to be questioned by a two year old.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her, reaching for his phone.

"Playin with kitty, wanna play?" She asked.

"No, I have work to do. You shouldn't be here," he told her.

"I know, daddy said to stay under his desk and not get caught....you're not gonna tell him are you?" She asked anxiously. He tried not to smile.

"No, but you need to go back to him now. You don't want him to find out you're missing do you?" He asked her. She shook her head.

"No. Are you someone important?" She asked curiously.

"I'm your daddy's boss," he replied.

"Noooo....man 'at sings is daddy's boss," she informed him. Rufus was trying hard not to laugh at that, if Tseng knew what she called him...he could only imagine.

"Yes, well I'm his boss, so I'm your daddy's bosses boss," he said. She cocked her head to the side.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Nevermind. You should go back to your daddy now," he said.

"Okay!" She said, going to the door, then turned around.

"Iono where he is,"

"Should be on floor twenty nine," he said. She counted on her fingers, but after a moment she looked up at him.

"I don' know how many that is," she said. Rufus stood up, he'd never admit it to anyone, but he liked this child.

"How about we both go down to see him?" He suggested.

"Okay," she went with him to the elevator. On the way down he felt a tug on his hands.

"Mr. Rufus?" She said. He looked down at her.

"Yes?" He said.

"Wha's a faggot?" She asked him. He frowned slightly at the elevator doors.

"Where did you hear that word?" He asked.

"Woman that gets off elev'tor same place as me," she said.

"What did she say exactly?" He asked. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment thinking.

"That daddy was a faggot an' that I was a faggot child an' she di'nt want to catch a faggot disease from me," she told him, her voice sounding a little hurt. Rufus's face darkened; okay so he'd be the first to admit he didn't like it when he heard about the relationship between one of his turks and Cloud Strife, but that was more to do with how Reno's work performance might suffer. But to say such a thing to a child.

"What did she look like?" He asked her as the elevator doors opened and they walked out. Whoever the woman was she was about to get fired.

"She had yellow hair like you and daddy an' she was really skinny," she replied. He stopped outside the door to the turk offices and crouched down a little.

"You should probably talk to your daddy about this," he paused, then continued.

"But she shouldn't have said those things, it wasn't nice and it wasn't right, do you understand?" He asked. She nodded a little hesitantly, as if not sure she should believe him.

"There you are!" Reno's voice called as he came towards them from the opposite end of the corridor. He stopped when he saw Rufus Shinra next to his daughter.

"Sir, I'm sorry," he said. Rufus smiled pleasantly, he let go of the small hand.

"I told you to stay under the desk," Reno reprimanded Ki'ara.

"I was bored," she told him. Reno rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't mean you can just leave!" He snapped.

"Sorry," she mumbled. He took her hand and turned to bring her back into the offices.

"Come on," he said.

"Just a moment, Reno, I'd like a word," Rufus said. Reno pushed Ki'ara towards the door.

"Go on and this time stay there," he waited until she had gone back in and then turned back to the president.

"Sir, I'm really sorry, I hope she didn't disturb you to much," he said.

"She didn't I came back to my office to find her playing with Dark Nation. I think he was more surprised than she was. But that isn't what this is about," Rufus said and then told the redhead what the woman had said to Ki'ara. Reno sighed loudly, muttered a curse.

"Thank you, sir," he said. Then went into the offices and sat down at his desk, he picked up the phone and rang Cloud.

"Hey, Cloud, it's me Reno, we need to have that talk with Ki'ara today," he paused for a moment.

"Yeah, some woman on the top floor. We'll be there," he hung up, then bent to look under the desk.

"Oh, come on," he stood up.

"Rude did you see which way...?" He asked his partner. Without looking up at Reno the black man pointed down the corridor towards the elevator.

"How'd she get past me?" Reno wondered aloud. Tseng chose that moment to come out of his office.

"Meeting now," was all he said. Reno knew how much trouble he'd be in if he wasn't there, he just hoped Ki'ara didn't get into anymore trouble before he could find her.

(Line breaker)

Ki'ara had decided that staying still and quiet under daddy's desk was boring. She had managed to come all the way down to the level under the parking garage and no one had stopped her. She didn't know what was down here, but that's what exploring was all about, right? Walking down the long dimly lit corridor she came into a room that had a large cell in the middle of it with a man sitting on a cot inside. She walked up to the bars.

"Hello," she said. The man looked up and smiled slowly when he saw that it was a child.

"They're recruiting Turks younger these days," he said.

"Not a Turk, daddy's a Turk," she said. His smiled widened even more.

"Really?" He asked. She nodded smiling back.

"You works with daddy?" She asked him.

"That's right, but I'm afraid that I was accidentally locked in here; could you get the keys they're on the desk over there?" He pointed. She looked over at the desk and then back at him.

"You're not lyin'?" She cocked her head to the side. He tried to affect an innocent expression.

"I wouldn't lie," he said. Apparantly satisfied she went over to the desk and picked up the ring of keys, then came back and rattled the key against the lock until it slipped into the hole, after a moment there was a click and the door swung open.

(Line breaker)

Reno was finding it even harder than usual to pretend he was listening to Tseng as the Turk leader brought them up to date on the the last mission that Tseng and Elena had gone on. After droning on for another few minutes Tseng gestured to Elena.

"Marko Carson is well known to the authorities here for human trafficking; mostly with young children. He also enjoys having fun with them before passing them on to buyers here and in other parts of the world," Elena said.

"So in other words he's a prick that deserves to die?" Reno asked.

"Not before we get some answers from him," Tseng told him. Reno smirked crookedly.

"So we get to 'question' him in our own unique way; sounds fun," he said.

"Question him, but he's not to die until we get what we need first," Tseng eyed Reno carefully until he was sure the redhead understood.

"We have him here already?" Rude asked quietly.

"He's in one of the holding cells downstairs," Tseng said. There was a knock at the door and one of the secretaries came in without waiting for a response first, she went straight to Tseng and spoke quietly to him for a moment.

"Where was the guard?" Tseng asked her. She shrugged and turned to leave. Tseng looked at the other Turks.

"It looks like our friend Mr. Carson got out of his cell when the guard left him. Rude I want you to go to the observation room; I want to know where he is. Elena, you go to the lower floors, I'll head for the top, Reno, stay on this floor. As soon as we find out where he is, we'll all converge on him at once," he said. Each of them headed out to their given tasks.

(Line breaker)

Rude stood silently behind one of the ShinRa guards, his eyes on the security moniters. His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket.

"Yes?" He waited a moment, then he tapped the female guard on her shoulder and pointed at one of the moniters; the camera moved in for a closeup.

"I see him and he's not alone. If he hurts her..." he trailed off watching the man in the elevator.

"Yeah, I'll let Reno know," he hit the call end button then hit speed dial to his partners phone.

(Line breaker)

Elena stepped out from the stairwell door. Marko Carson came to a halt when he saw her, mouth stretching wide in a grin.

"Hi, Laney," Ki'ara smiled at her godmother.

"Ki'ara come here," Elena said.

"Oh, she's not going anywhere, blondie," Carson said quietly. Elena saw Tseng and Reno moving in behind Carson.

"You might want to change your mind, yo," Reno said quietly, his EMR clenched in one hand.

"Let the child go," Tseng said, his tone calm. Carson half turned so he could see all three Turks at once.

"You must be daddy," he said to Reno. Reno just glared at him.

"The girl is coming with me, she wants to," Carson's grip tightened around Ki'ara's wrist. She winced slightly at the pain.

"No I don't!" She said. Carson was backing slowly towards a large window at the end of the corridor. Ki'ara struggled with him, scratching with her free hand at the fingers he had around her other wrist.

"Let go!" She kicked out at him. Tseng reached one hand beneath his jacket, fingering his gun, ready to pull it out if needed.

"Listen you little bitch, stop struggling or I'll really hurt you!" Carson snapped at Ki'ara. He yanked her hard, at the same time Tseng; who had stayed back a bit, pulled out his gun and shot once, the bullet hitting Carson in the left shoulder. Carson fell backwards right through the glass window. His hand still wrapped around Ki'ara's wrist and he dragged her with him. Ki'ara screamed as she was pulled backwards. With a strangled yell Reno leaped forward, reaching for his daughter, his fingers closing on nothing but air.

"Ki'ara!" He was at the window almost instantly, staring downwards. He saw her falling, Carson had relinquished his grip on her wrist. He was dimly aware of seeing Carson hit the ground. Ki'ara however came to a sudden stop a few floors below them, her voice stopping mid scream. Tseng and Elena were beside him a moment later. Ki'ara looked upward as she swung gently back and forth.

"Daddy!" She called.

"Don't move! I'll come get you!" Reno yelled down to her. He put one foot on the windowsill and leaped over, quickly and easily he scaled the wall downward and stopped right behind her. He hung to the wall with one hand, he saw that the metal catch of one of the straps of her dungarees had caught on a broken flagpole. He pulled her towards him.

"Hold onto me tightly," he told her. Her small arms wrapped around his neck and she hung onto him, he could feel her trembling against him.

"Don't let go," he felt her nodding her head.

"Okay," she whispered. As soon as he had got the metal buckle free he started to climb upwards with her again and then in through the window. He hardly noticed Tseng who was on the phone with Rude.

"Is she alright?" Elena asked anxiously. Reno held his daughter close to him, she was still shaking and scared.

"Remind me never to complain about those stupid flags Rufus keeps insisting on putting up on the walls outside," he said to her.

"Reno," Tseng waited until the redheaded Turk looked at him.

"Take the rest of the day off. I'll see you in the morning,"

"Thanks, boss," Reno headed for the elevators.

"Shh, it's okay. I got you, it's okay," the words he spoke were to help Ki'ara, but also to try and calm himself down. She lifted her head away and looked up at him. He pushed the hair back out of her eyes.

"Did he hurt you?" Reno dreaded having to ask. She shook her head and then frowned.

"What is it?" He asked. She looked down and then back up at him.

"He tried to open the buttons on my pants, said I needed to use the bat'room and he was going to take me so we could have some fun," she told him. Reno clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. He put a finger under he chin and lifted it up.

"What he did isn't your fault, okay?" He asked. She nodded and then leaned her head back against his shoulder.

"But next time you need to do as I say, alright?" He looked down at her. She nodded again, sticking her pointer and middle finger in her mouth, something she hadn't done in a few months. It was a habit he and Cloud had tried hard to break her of. He sighed and decided that just this once he'd let her do it. He pulled his phone out and quickly dialled Cloud's number.

"Hey, got the rest of the day off, can you meet us now?" He asked.

"Great, we'll be there in fifteen minutes; and Cloud? We're going to have to have a talk about something else with her to," he waited a moment.

"Long story, I'll explain when we get there," he hung up.

"Goin' to see daddy?" She asked him sleepily. He kissed her forehead.

"Yep, going for some ice cream, would you like that?" He asked.

"Mmmhmm," she mumbled. Reno smiled down at her as he walked down the street.


End file.
